If you fail to win any of your last 5 domestic games then the writing is on the wall. March is when you’re supposed to be hitting form, winning games and at your strongest as the season closes but for so many reasons we have been at our worst.

At Stamford Bridge, Arsenal started the game well. Both sides made some half chances and the first half ended goalless, after a lot of huffing and puffing in both penalty areas. It must be noted that Almunia was the busier goalkeeper in the first half though, making some decent saves.

But it was Arsenal that made the break-through.

After 58 minutes, Arsenal won a corner after Van Persie hit the ball against Essien on the left side. Fabregas sent in a superb cross and the ball was headed in at the near post Bacary Sagna.

What a massive goal in the Premier League season.

But after that things went horribly, horribly wrong.

Like the Eduardo incident at Birmingham, like the penalty conceded at the end of that game, like the disallowed goal against Middlesbrough, like the sh*te pitch at Wigan – Arsenal’s luck was non-existent.

Sagna – one of our best performers on the day – had to be taken off with a nasty ankle injury. The obvious thought going through Arsenal fans’ minds was that Eboue would have to fill in at right-back.

And after that Arsenal collapsed.

By hook or by crook, Arsenal had been defending well and keeping Chelsea out but as soon as Sagna was substituted things fell apart.

And luck really had truly turned against us.

Drogba scored the equaliser after disarray in the Arsenal penalty area, and to compound Sagna’s enforced absence the original ball forward from Chelsea was clearly offside.

After that the tide was with Chelsea, and it was that man again Drogba who had been causing our defence all kinds of problems all afternoon who scored the decisive winner. It was another mess in our penalty area which resulted in a scuffed shot from striker which managed to beat Almunia and nestle in the net.

A must-win game in the title race ended in the worse way possible.

So what happened?

Well quite frankly not enough players had good enough performances.

Fabregas played well in the middle, finding his passing range and making some good defensive tackles. Flamini also had an excellent game, showing passion and determination – it was a shame his endeavour and desire wasn’t shared with some of his team-mates.

Sagna was solid as usual, and along with Clichy showed some excellent running and movement to support the attack. Gallas stuggled all game with the threat of Drogba, and ultimately that proved to become costly in the end. Toure showed good energy and made some good interceptions but made a bad mistake for Drogba’s second goal.

And Almunia pulled off some excellent saves. He was badly exposed for the two goals and you couldn’t really blame him for either one.

But that was it.

Hleb, Adebayor, Eboue and Van Persie were shocking. They really were.

Obviously you can excuse Van Persie because he’s been out for so long, but the others haven’t been playing well for a long time now. I might be more sympathetic towards Hleb if he wasn’t f*cking around and talking to Inter Milan behind our backs.

And Adebayor is just not at the races at all. He talks a good game, and goes on and on about his friendship with Thierry Henry but when it comes to his responsibilities on the pitch he is nowhere to be seen. Besides a tap in at AC Milan he hasn’t scored for 9 games. That is not good enough for a striker playing for Arsenal Football Club. I don’t expect goals in every game but I do expect a performance now and then. Unfortunately he’s been lacking in both the performance and goalscoring charts.

That is just not acceptable for a team like Arsenal who always make chances.

Nicklas Bendtner should have been given a start, to mix things up at least and give Adebayor a rest which he obviously needs.

And why on earth does Arsene persist in starting Emmanuel Eboue in Arsenal’s biggest games? Theo Walcott surely deserves a start doesn’t he? And the youngster is one of the very few players who has actually been scoring recently in the Premier League! I don’t think Eboue would have ever scored twice at Birmingham City like Walcott did.

A lot of questions, but we just didn’t have the answers.

Player Ratings:

Manuel Almunia: 8/10
Overall had an excellent game. Was called upon to make some vital saves and didn’t disappoint. Was badly exposed at the back for both of Drogba’s goals and almost saved the second. Denied Drogba his hattrick with another fantatic stop.

Bacary Sagna: 8/10
Another excellent and solid performance, and probably one of the players of the season. Took his goal brilliantly and defended well. His absence had an impact on the outcome of the game and very unfortunate to injure his ankle.

Kolo Toure: 7/10
Defended well on the whole but made a bad mistake for Drogba’s second goal.

William Gallas: 6/10
Struggled all afternoon with Didier Drogba. Looked very weak in the air which was very strange – even against Anelka when he came on. Not his best game.

Gael Clichy: 8/10
Excellent energy levels and ran up and down the flank all game. Kept Joe Cole quiet and supported the attack well as usual.

Emmanuel Eboue: 5/10
What can I say? Picked up a stupid booking for blocking a freekick and lost the ball on several occasions. Passing was poor and only succeeded in getting caught up in petty squabbles all over the pitch instead of playing football.

Mathieu Flamini: 9/10
Desire, passion and full of running. Rallied the team throughout the game and couldn’t ask any more of him. A true warrior who we don’t want to lose in the summer.

Cesc Fabregas: 8/10
Good in the middle but limited because of the lack of movement from his fellow players. Hleb, Eboue and Adebayor failed to make any decent runs for the Spaniard to pick out. Good delivery for Sagna’s goal and made some good recovering tackles in defence.

Robin Van Persie: 7/10
Asked to play on the left side and had a couple of openings at the start of the game. Faded after that but in all fairness didn’t get the ball enough. Helped out Clichy on the left and made some good tackles.

Alexander Hleb: 6/10
Usually excellent at ball retention and taking on players but wasn’t at it today. Couldn’t make an impact on the game and his decision-making when in possession was very poor.

Emmanuel Adebayor: 5/10
Stuggled upfront and could take lessons from Didier Drogba. Rarely got in the box when the ball was wide which was mind-boggling. Kept passing the ball backwards instead of taking on a defender or trying to play a team-mate through. Maybe it’s a lack of confidence, or could be that he’s not good enough.

46 thoughts on “Arsenal’s Title Hopes Officially End At Stamford Bridge (w/ Player Ratings)”

i have been saying this all along, we are abviously lacking depth. equally i dont know why wenger prefers eboue to walcott. to me ade is not an outright striker and i believe that we need one come next season.

Look at Man utd they havnt conceded one soft goal this season and they have only let 15 pass Van Der Sar.All you need is an outstanding talent and a rock solid defense and you are ready to sweep all before you.

And 12 years in to Wengers reign we are still overeaborating to the max.Hleb must be the biggest show pony ever.Rosicky and Hleb can fuck of to sunny italy just as long as inter and Meelan gives us a wad of cash.

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT MATE!!!FUKIN HELL! LE BOSS HAS LOST THE PLOT! EBOUE IS A TOTAL WASTE! IN THE LAST FEW GAMES WHAT THE FUK HAS HE DONE??? ADEBAYOR??? EVEN HLEB SEEMS 2B IN A WORLD OF HIS OWN OR SHOULD I SAY A WORLD OF ITALY!!! FUKIN 4 DRAWS AND A LOSS, WHEN WE WER 5 POINTS CLEAR! WE HAVENT WON A LEAGUE GAME SINCE BLAKBURN, N ONLY RECORDED 1 WIN AFTER THAT WHICH WAS MILAN!
YET WENGER SAYS NO NEED TO BUY IN THE SUMMER! WEN THE FUK IS HE GONNA REALISE WE HAVENT GOT THE NEVA MIND QUALITY IN DEPTH BUT NO DEPTH AT ALL IN THE TEAM!!! THIS POINT OF THE SEASON PLAYERS DO GET TIRED N REQUIRE A ROTATION POLICY JUS LYKE CHELSEA, UNITED CAN DO. YET WE DONT C PLAYERS ON THERE TEAMS COMPLAININ! HOW MANY TIMES HAS CARRICK, HARGREAVES, PARK, FLETCHER ETC COMPLAINED FOR NOT GETTIN ENOUGH FIRST TEAM FOOTBALL! SAME WID MOST CHELSEA PLAYERS, YET WITH ARSENAL PRIME EXAMPLE WHO ONLY FUKIN LASTED A MONTH N FUCKED OFF(DIARRA)! FLAMINI LAST SEASON! ALIADIAERRE(DONT GIVE A FUK HOW ITS SPELT NOR THAT HE LEFT COZ HES SHIT N E WAYS), NOW OLD GRANDAD GILBERTO!!!N SO MANY MORE!
AM SORRY BUT IF WENGER DOES NOT GET MORE PLAYERS N INCREASE THE QUALITY IN DEPTH ALONG WID KEEPIN THEM HAPPY LYK FERGUSON THEN U CAN ALREDY WAVE GOODBYE TO THE PREMIRE LEAGUE TITLE NEXT SEASON TOO!!!UNTIL FUKIN WENGERS STOPS FUKIN COMPLAININ N MEKIN EXCUSES AFTER EVERY FUKIN GAME N GETS IT THRU HIS THIK HEAD THAT WE NEED PLAN B, QUALITY BACK UP IN DEFENCE, MIDFIELD N STRIKE FORCE! ROSICKSY ALWAYS INJURED, VAN PERSIE ALWAYS INJURED ETC ETC!HW CAN U COPE!

Remember when Henry played and wasnt injured we swept all before us.Problem is that none of the current attackers can hold a candle to what Henry could do when he was on top.We were rock solid with Campbell and Toure and Campbell and Adams.

I have to point out some things. First thing is that adebayor is not as good as we make him look like. I remember when henry missed two or one chance but he just got better an better for every game. But it not the case with adde, he missed the chance after only 1 minut a don’t think that torres,henry,drogba,keane,berbatov,ect ect would have missed that chance. And the secong thing is that adde was bought to play a similar type of droba but a more like kanu.But he no kanu or drogba, he a big striker but he does use is strengh which is protecting the ball.. like drogba he always try difficult stuff..and i can say now that he does have a got first touch i’ve seen to many games to decid that he doesn’t i can swear that Dudu would have been troubling for chelsea than adde was this match.. n i want quaresma now pay 28 million if it is needed.. and i’m out

Spot on about Hleb and Adebayor, those guys are passengers in the side. They’re good when things are going well but when the going gets tough then they are anonymous.

The team overall has been fantastic this season, but Wenger is afraid of upsetting his players. Adebayor in particular has been given faith by the manager by starting regularly but hasn’t paid him back and has been playing shite. He has let the manager down, and the fans aswell.

The squad is not good enough and the league title was probably lost in January when Wenger refused to strengthen the side.

I don’t think there is much wrong with the Arsenal team. Almunia has made the number one spot his own and the back four (with Senderos) are good enough. Midfield and attack is where we struggle, and it might be worth playing Toure in the middle with Flamini and Fabregas and play Senderos alongside Gallas, which seems like a much better partnership.

I can guarantee that Toure would be better than Hleb, and you can bet Toure would fucking shoot instead of fuck around with the ball!

And God knows where we’re going to get a quality striker from because unfortunately Dudu is out for a long time

My patience is wearing thin with wenger. I have supported arsenal for a long time and his insistence on not buyin g big name players relying on youth is not working. Worse still is he still thinks this will work when all the evidence is pointing to the opposite.

After 12 years in charge he still looks like he wants a team made up of youthful players. Does he really think a waffer thin squad will win a champions league or premiership??? Cesc fabregas is a great player but he looks tired and worn out and i feel sorry for him. He has to carry the can for the entire season with no suitable replacement. In fact our bench is a joke compared to united or chelsea’s. They can bring on rooney tevez or anelka. Who can we bring on?? BENTNER…useless or theo headless chicken walcott. Even worse. These players are not big time and will never win you championships or champions league like drogba showed he can.

Arsenal fans deserve better then this just because wenger may be a good tactican doesnt make him a good manager and i think the arsenal fans are starting to get restless. Wenger better change his tactics and buy some big name players with experience in the summer or he may not be around after next season….

what really gets me is why have we not bought any world class players in a while… lets face it.. we were practically forced into getting Gallas because of that cunt Cole.. we have the resources to compete in the transfer market, why are we not doing so?
another thing I keep hearing is that if you told us at the beginning of the season that we would be in 3rd place and competing in the QF of the CL come March, then we all would have gladly taken it…. hold on a second, why the hell has Wenger put us in this situation that we are happy to be in 3rd at the start of the season.. we just do not have the quality or the depth to compete with man utd and chelsea… period!!
i agree that Hleb and Ade have become passengers and we cant have that.. this is the 3rd year running where we probably will not finish in the top 2… unacceptable Mr. Wenger!!!
absolutely gutted//

I think its time Arsenal fans get it…. AW is NOT this genius everyone makes him out to be… he is arrogant and seeks only to make HIMSELF the center of attention. He would NEVER sign a player with a big rep… why? because that player might be more famous than him. He has to always bring some unknown or young player so everyone can give him credit. Someone mentioned Benzema… NOT A FREAKING chance AW would ever look at a player with that much talent and fame. Why? Because he would not get credit for it. He boasts about having a warchest of 70 million… yet what did he do for the club in January? NOTHING but go out and sign some young kid, so that everyone can one day give him, Le Boss the glory. This club has run out of steam… they are being outplayed at EVERY position… not only big the BIG three… but even teams in the relegation fight. It is a shame watching this club just fall apart under this egotistical idiot of a manager. Oh I know all the AW worshippers will come at me now… but he has been out managed… the club has no creativity. They play the most predictable tactics… anyone in this league can beat Arsenal. I am so frustrated with this now… and by the way… Arsene the Genius already does not think he needs any new players this off season… he has the perfect side already for next year. And this idiot has a contract for life with the club.

Is it me but did anyone else realise that the goals Drogba scored would never have been scored by Adebayor in a million years?

A massive difference in quality.

They say your deficiencies are shown over a whole season and it’s clear some of the players are not good enough. We need a world class striker and winger to supplement the talents of Fabregas and Flamini.

The fans deserve it and the players who give everything (like Clichy, Sagna, etc.) deserve it too.

Chelsea.. way to be over the top for finishing 2nd in the premiership and losing to barnsley in the FA..

Our full backs need cover as well.. sorry Hoyte and Traore are not ready.. we need backup in the midfield… Denilson is not ready.. we need a midfielder that can score goals every now and then…
and most importantly as pointed out earlier, we have not bought a world class player in forever, except when practically forced with Gallas

You guys are way over the top,
Arsenal outplayed chelsea for most of the game,
and although they havent played great the last few, practically every goal theyv conceded has been down to confused offside rules or just plain bad refereeing, we did enough to win most of them technically,
the only game I thought we actually deserved to lose, altho we drew, was Aston Villa, the rest we did enough, and when ur squad is this stretched thats not bad

I agree Wenger needs to sign more players but its not because the ones we have arent good enough its purely cos theyr all injury prone,
I think Toure’s been carrying an injury, but he shouldnt have just reclaimed his place like that, Senderos has been awesome and it sends the wrong msg wen someone can just walk back in like that

I have to defend hleb as well, the guy is awesome on form, I think hes suffered from playing too many games, and being kicked too much.

The reason theyr out of the title race is bad luck/ refereeing,
Isnt it funny tho how bad refereeing seems to go against arsenal when it really matters and goes for Man U?

Look, i can truly understand how u feel (and the other bloggers) however we must remeber that Arsenal created history in Italy during this so call “Free fall or however u put it. So if Arsenal can do that then there is still hope. Hey we may not turn but i am very sorry i will believe until the end, im going down with this ship believing it will float and win the race. Look Arsenal may go undefeated the rest of the way but them again they may, Man U and Chelsea may not loose again but then again they may! who knows? I for one think a whole lot can happen in 7 matches. So u c Sir u cannot make an “OFFICIAL staement on the topic of “ARSENALS TITLE HOPES ENDING” unless u are a prophet of some sort and if u are u can call the FA and BPL and tell not to bother to play the rest of the matchs because u have all the “OFFICIAL” info regarding the rest of the season! now, does that make sense.

Whats funny is that u admit that the refs are making mistakes against Arsenal, so we must now beat the refs also. it would seem that replay of some sought is in order because it has affected us in the worst way.

Come on Gunners, there is no way we could have been so good earlier and all of a sudden we are not good any more! thats just not logical.

I’ve kept optimistic for the last few weeks throughout our bad patch but today was just a result too far. Arsenal just don’t look like winning! Yes, technically we could win the rest of our games and United/Chelsea could drop them but come on, who seriously thinks that will happen?

Alan Hansen said on MOTD2 that our momentum disappeared when Wenger threw away the FA Cup game and he was spot on. Since then we have been so poor.

The Champions League looks even tougher now as well. Even if we get passed Liverpool we have to play Chelsea! We played well today (well some of the players did) and we still lost!

Will everybody calm the fuck down please, for fucks sake we are only six points off the top after a season battling with two teams with squads twice as big as ours- what happened earlier in the season is called OVERACHIEVEMENT- you people need a reality check, in the summer everyone worried about 4th, now when it seems we are not going to win a title against enormous odds everybody starts crying and whinging and slatin wenger

Cristiano Ronaldo is overall the only thing stopping us from having a real chance- he is like henry in his prime, blowing away much of the inferior teams on his own- in this sense we do still miss henry, that is, the vintage henry of around 02-05, not the one who struggles with injury and a loss of pace and bad attitude towards his teammates that we saw in the last season.

We are very close to another title win, thats what we’ve learned this season, even if its not our year, but til that happens, for gods sake we are prospectively 5 games away from the champions league trophy, stop moaning and get behind the team

Adebayor is not the class striker that arsenal need, he can score a few and have a run, notice that his goals were scored within a short interval,and against small teams.
Eboue is absolutely average, and he gets yellow can like no one else does.
Helb has excellent ball control but when the earth will he have shot on target?

all we need is a quality striker (Ade should have learnt by now at he is no drogba, nor henry) and top class wingers.ros is too injury prone…

Mr.Wenger, please get them with the “money” we have. we are not in the business for money, we need trophies.

yes, we overachieved earlier this season but everybody believed we had the “strength”, apart from RvP, i dont see a genuine attacking talent in our squad(ade counts himself one though). look at our bench yes2, it was a joke compared the ManU and chelsh*t.

Yes i do agree with some of you,i was dissapointed very much with hleb for delaying much of the passes that led Chelsea player to close down quickly,i’m disgust by Ade’s performance,his touches was horrible.

I dont want to say this but,few months ago we were top of the league,amazing in the CL,but now i feel that we could end this season with nothing but that Milan game….well that’s not good enough.

We could be bigger losers than Liverpool come end of the season.
It would make me distraught even more for players like Flamini,Sagna,Fabregas,Eduardo,Bendt who i feel has work the butt of to deserve something this season.

Easy on being passimistic. We are totally not out of this race. First of all, United are not unbeatable and second of all, our bad run will end. United have to go to the Bridge and if they lose their and we beat them, then their lead is gone.

This game was so frustrating. Adebayor is shit, most overrated player this season. He only had a good run when the team was doing good. That guy can’t lay off a pass. I want Bendtner in right now. Nicklas only had few minutes but managed to do more than that monkey-head did all day.

We need Senderos. I don’t care if Gallas or Toure have to make room for him, we need Big Phil. I thought I would never say this but the defense look so much more stable with him in it. Toure was absolutely at fault for the second goal. Put Toure on the right wing and Senderos in.

Eboue is the shittiest player ever to play for Arsenal. Jeffers was better then him, at least he sometime scored. I hate Eboue, I just hate him. If he doesn’t leave this summer, I will be very dissapointed in Wenger. Walcott might only have touched the ball twice in 20 minutes but I still believe he should be over Eboue. Walcott can make an impact, Eboue only knows how to lose the ball.

We need Rosicky back, now. I didn’t realize until recently how important he is. He might be frustrating to watch sometimes but his power and speed on the ball is second to none. If he plays the trilogy against Liverpool, we will win.

Come on you Gunners. We have not lost the EPL and we have a good chance in the CL. We just need to win Bolton, beat Liverpool three times and then go to Old Trafford and teach those fucking cunts how to play football.

i dun understand why ppl over evaluate the milan game, in this sense, liverpool actually did equally well, if not better than us by beating Inter flat, this milan is not the milan we used to know,look at their league results and you will agree with me. when arsenal (ave age 24) took on Milan (ave age 35),a victory should not be of too much surprises.

the fact is we need proven blood,together with carlos vela.and get rid of eboue or make him sagna’s no.2… watching him making himself a fool on the pitch makes me puke.

sometimes i dun understand what they management does,they claim to have 50M at disposal, but cant even up their offer for Flamini by 10%. if we lose him, arsene has to spend more to get a replacement of his quality and commitment.
if they dont intend to use that money, why did they make it available in the first place.

Hye Guyz, we just can forget about the title now. Third placing, not so sure with Liverpool at home & Man U, away. May be 4th. or 5th. with Everton knocking the door. Arsene Wenger have to realise that his kid are not good enough to win the title. He donâ€™t have players to lead the team as well as any subs to change the game as Man U or Chelsea have got. Its totally Arsene Wengerâ€™s mistake with the money he has got to buy players & he didnâ€™t. He sells the best ever player (Thierry Henry, Viera) we’ve got, while trusting the in-experience kids, its a disaster. Money, sometimes only cannot buy success but all the time surely can buy good, quality & reliable players in order to be successfull. The different between expensive brands & cheap brands is the quality (Ferrari cars vs Malaysian Proton cars) same goes to players or strikers, which the department we are lacking of quality this season with too many waste goal scoring chances, no consistency at all, lack of determination, bloody poor ball control, fucking poor first touch, can’t even pass the ball accurately, can’t beat defender, no body stability, never used his fucking height as advantage, too arrogant & many more (All this about Adebayour). If, he has scored atleast 1 goal in each game with the chances he has got, we would have been many points away at the top. Iâ€™m not complaining but this is the truth & fact, face it Mr. Wenger. At the beginning of the season he missed out on buying Ribbery, Babel, Torres & later missed on Anelka. A good manager must know how to manage a team for a whole fucking season & take into account all issues including injury, poor of form & others. He have got the money, right ?? Just look at our bench, there is no one can come in to change the game off. Dropped too many points againts poor side, why ?? Wasted too many goalscoring chances, fucking poor strikers with injury prone Robin & Rosicky and useles Adebayour & Bentdner. Gallas is rubbish as well as Diaby. Just offload those fucking shit players & get in some good & quality players such as Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema, Micah Richards, Quaresma & Ben Arfa for godsake Mr. fucking Wenger afterall its not your fucking fathers money what ???. If, most of the chances has been converted into goal then we would have been still on top of the league with some points to be able to win the title, without doubt. The title is now definately belongs to Man U, because they are deserved to be the champion & they are a better team with a lot of good & quality players. â€œMoney needed to buy Good & Quality playersâ€ in order to be successfull. Total players value for Arsenal team less than 50 million, do you guyz, knows that ??. Another season going without any achievement. For godsake sack thid fucking Arsene Wenger & get Jose Maurioho in. Arsenal is not a world football acedamy to train players as Wenger thinks, we are a big club to achieve more glory.

Hello friend, Just you’re comparing with Liverpool, ok what about Man U & Chelsea ??? See, what we can acvieve & will achieve ?? We will never, afterall. We don’t have quality players, thats all !!! Quaresma doesn’t fit our playing style, who the hell said so ?? What about Adebayour & Bentdner, with their fucking poor first touch, always passes the ball straight to the opponent, can’t even dribble pass/beat defenders, wasted too many goal scoring chances which already cost us now, lack of determination & tooo arrogant. Injury prone Rosicky & Robin, we are not charity hospital to make player recover, ok. Gallas is being rubbish as he is not good enough together with fucking lazy Diaby to be in our team. Hello, Mr. Fucking Wenger you better get rid of those piece of shitt or else just get the fuck out of our club, ok.

Hello friend, Just youâ€™re comparing with Liverpool, ok what about Man U & Chelsea ??? See, what we can acvieve & will achieve ?? We will never, afterall. We donâ€™t have quality players, thats all !!! Quaresma doesnâ€™t fit our playing style, who the hell said so ?? What about Adebayour & Bentdner, with their fucking poor first touch, always passes the ball straight to the opponent, canâ€™t even dribble pass/beat defenders, wasted too many goal scoring chances which already cost us now, lack of determination & tooo arrogant. Injury prone Rosicky & Robin, we are not charity hospital to make player recover, ok. Gallas is being rubbish as he is not good enough together with fucking lazy Diaby to be in our team. Hello, Mr. Fucking Wenger you better get rid of those piece of shitt or else just get the fuck out of our club, ok.

RassHenry – that makes no sense. Get rid of potentiall great players in Bentdner, VanP and Diaby – keep past it players in Lehman and Gilberto and bring back another who is also past his best (tho still class) in Henry.

Its been a very disappointing weekend. everything went in United favour. From Mascherano getting sent off all because Cuntly coles behaviour last week (and lets face it, thats what got him sent off in the end) to Reina making an arse out of himself, twice (whats the betting he has the games of his life against us !!) to yet another terrible terrible linesmans decision (or lack of) …

While not mathematically out of it it would take an effort of almight proportions from the team and a lot of luck to see us win the title.

As for Fab leaving for one of those “big” clubs a la Vieira, Henry, Overmars, Anelka …the list goes on. None of those players have been vindicated in leaving to win things yet. Theres only so many trophies to go around. We still have an outside shot at 2. Better that we could have said last season at this stage. That in itself is an improvement. Id like more, but there you have it.

Id back Wenger to offload 2 or 3 players from the squad but at most buy 2 players. I hope they are straight off first team players and not more potential first team players. Thats along with out loanees making the step to the first team also.

So while im gutted right now, we still have 8 league games i expect no less that 100% from the lads – no time to let the heads drop and also at least 2 more champions league games – we can definitely beat ‘Pool to progress.

Its all about progression people. And i dont think anyone can say we havent this season. Not as much as one would have liked but its going in the right direction.

THIS summer is a must for an injection top class first team ready players to come in. A valiant effort from the squad so far – but its obvious we need it to be added to by 2 or 3 quality players to make the next step.

Arsenal don’t need wholesale changes. We’re only need another 2 or 3 players to the squad we’ve got to be right up there. Unfortunately I’m not sure Wenger will go out and buy proven talent. The last time he did that was when he bought Marc Overmars wasn’t it?

Anyone who ever was in doubt about Eboue’s contribution should have had that revised on black sunday. I have always maintained that Wenger’s master stroke this season was prefering to use two right backs instead of the traditional right back and right winger. When Sagna was forced out, you saw the result. Walcot cannot defend as Eboue does. The holding midfielder (Flamini-later Diaby) was forced to do more and Fabregas had less freedom to push forward. In sum, we are weaker defensively whenever Eboue is hauled off. People should undersatnd this and forget about Eboue being a midfielder. He is a defender pushed forward to stiffle build up on the right side. The result has been a much improved Flamini (who need not worry too much about the right flank) and a lethal Fabregas. Eboue has greatly improved our defensive record this term and it’s hight time we started recognising his contribution.